Does a Paraprofessional have choice to work in a regular classroomwith rather than a disabled student ?

Question

Does a Paraprofessional have choice to work in a regular classroomwith rather than a disabled student ?

Answer 1

What the heck is a paraprofessinoal,,,, new word for an old dude like me.  

If you mean a person trained to work with disabled students, you can work in a regular classroom, providing you have the certifications and qualifications for that class or subject.  However, professionals with the specialized certifications of working with disabled students are hard to find, so systems seem to keep pushing these people back into those classrooms and curriculums.

If you mean can a disabled person work in a regular classroom, as long as you can meet the basic qualifications of the job, as defined by the physical demands recorded on the job description, yes you can.  If you can not meet the physcial demands, but could perfrom the job with a "reasonable accomadation", then yes you still can teach in regular classroom.  

Last, if you mean a school system employee who is not certified, but works with students, you do not have to work with disabled students.  However, there are less spots to fill and more applicants for these positions, so openings are harder to find.  In addition, you may be asked to perfrom other duties such as driving a bus.  The positions funded for classrooms of disabled students usually pay a little more, and there are requirements about student teacher ratio that would make driving a bus or working in the school cafe', problematic.

Answer 2

In my school district, paraprofessionals' salary, etc. either comes out of the school's budget, or it comes out of Special Education funds, which are administered by the district. When the faculty puts together the school's academic and financial plan, they're going to try to fund as many teacher positions as they can, so they don't approve many general education paraprofessionals.

For that reason, most of our paraprofessionals are funded by the Special Education program, to meet the specific needs of specific students. Those paraprofessionals don't get the kind of choice you're talking about. Even if they are in a general education classroom, they are there to provide specially designed instruction or assistance to Special Education students.

Obviously, things may work very differently in a different school district, and there are hundreds of school districts within many states.

Answer 3

There was a time where there were paraprofessional in general education settings.  That is not the case anylonger - with budget cuts more than 20 years ago most Para's in general education were eliminated.  Sometimes there are part day assignments that are playground or lunch room duties - or maybe monitoring a studyhall but for the most part over 99% of the para positions in a school are directly related to special education services of some sort or another.

Answer 4

Depends on the needs of the school and the staff they have available to assign.  You can always ask, but, unfortunately, you don't always receive. Many paras prefer to work one-on-one because overall it's less push and pull into various "temporary assignments."  One-on-ones are usually the last ones administration will move.

Answer 5

Ultimately the district decides where to place you.  They could assign you to either choice.

Answer 6

Depends on what you apply for and where your employer places you.  If they have hired for both, go ahead and ask for the one that you would prefer.  Special Ed usually pays a bit more I think.   I'm currently working as a Paraprofessional while going to college to get my teaching credentials.  I was nervous about working Special Ed at first, but fell in love with it and plan to teach Special Ed.  Personally I think regular ed would be a lot more paper shuffling and copy making.  I'd rather be with the student and actually play an active roll in making a difference.  Yes, it's more challenging and I bring work home with me everyday, but it's also an incredibly rewarding experience.  

Answer 7

I would say ultimately yes as you can decide not to take a classroom assignment. The problem is that they may have no other assignments for you. I would contact your union representative and human resources (in that order) for your specific district to learn the official procedures for accepting or rejecting a placement.

Sometimes working in a different classroom can be surprisingly rewarding though. Some special education classrooms have far fewer students where a paraeducator can get to know the students better and spend more 1:1 time.

Answer 8

There are several kinds of paraprofessionals.  In my town, all the kindergarten classes have 1 teacher and 1 para, which they call a teacher's aide.  In this case, the para does all sorts of things--pass out papers, help quiet students, "gopher", help with assignments, etc.

Answer 9

possibly---but it depends on teh attitude of teh administration..some will work with you---others won't

you can say when you apply for teh job that you will only accept a regular ed assignment--it will make it harder to get a job.